Dear list, it's easy to say what I'm going to say, but I propose il like a footnote to the present thread because you all made me think about that. Motion capture, is actually a stillness capure. Bacause it capture the stillness (frozen positions) at a certain rate per second. What we call motion perception is due do the retinian persistency (low "refresh rate" of brain's "graphic car"). Motion capture, then, might perhaps be defined as a descriptive system that put in a cinematographic sequence different moments of a still body. If this is true then Cinema is a stilness capture device too. This seems interesting if we think to the Rosalind Krauss article in wich she defines every sculpure (even the most abstract one) as something that always refer to body and to laws that rule the body (like gravity and resistence to gravity). Her definition leads me to think that sculpure is always dynamic, frozen motion. Just like Goethe defined gothic cathedrals like frozen music. Coming back to sculpture the motion is particularly evident in Rodin and his early pupil Brancusi. Rodin is able to capture two different moments in the same posture according to Merleau-Ponty "The eye and the spirit". So "motion capture" is probably a fiction. (We believe in this fiction because we recognise it thanks to huma capacity John Martin's called metakinesis, but that'sanother story). We can do something with motion capture (that's the thriling part, when I work with it), but I suggest that there's more motion in a Brancusi bird than in any mocap file wich seems to me now like a stillnesses capture device... >Hi richard -- > >Thanks very much for your contribution... during my relatively few >opportunities to work with professionals in the animation industry I >have never seen anyone capture stillnesses in that way... so I >appreciate your informing us about this based on your more extensive >experience. How capturing people in a state of not moving can be >useful to maintaining the narrative and believability of the game is >quite interesting. Richard, to what extent can 'stillness' be >synthesized? Could this be quite easy? Given that there is so much >use of dynamic motion synthesis in robotics -- are there dynamic >stillness states that a robot slips into between tasks? Perhaps >these are silly questions, perhaps they might be explored in an >interesting way... I'm not sure. > >Besides maybe using 'stillness' as a way of asking a question about >robots, I was also proposing to perhaps extract stillness (like >Rogalsky) from movement -- to see what it might tell us about the >event associated with those motions. So, could someone write a >program that would say extract and assemble all the moments of >stillness (within parameters) from a given motion captured sequence? >Defining these parameters would be quite a challenge... > >A dance maker/ performer might define a typology of stillnesses/ >different forms -- the stillness just after stopping, the stillness >just before starting, nearing stillness/ deceleration, moving away >from stillness/ acceleration, the stillness of trying not to be >seen, a symbolic stillness of resistance, different stillnesses in >different body parts, the stillness of waiting, the stillness in >meditation, the stillness that sets in when foregrounding another >sense (i.e. listening)... > >Dance makers interested in perception (of the watcher) may use >stillness in the same way John Cage did with 4:33 -- because your >ear doesn't focus on the sound of the piano you attend to all other >noises. Cage was explicitly political with his silence to enable an >emancipation from traditional forms of music. Pina Bausch or Vera >Mantero choose stillness at certain points to invite a particular >way of seeing. Within the realm of experience, Steve Paxton's "small >dance" (something one tends to do instead of watch) is sensing the >movement in stillness -- exactly the sort of no-motion you refer to >(Danny Lepkoff has written an article that looks at stillnesses in a >recent issue of Contact Quarterly). > >So, anyway -- enough on stillness. I have also enjoyed the banter >and did my own back channel response to Bruno's e-quip about getting >money for 'doing nothing' -- so just to prove that I do have a sense >of humour. > >**Dear Bruno: and I was also thinking that perhaps this could all be >synchronized with the stillnesses that happen in the silences in >order to optimize the >moments of emptiness and generally contribute to the accumulation of >considerable amounts of money.** > >------- but I have less funny things to say in response to Christy's >comment that perhaps there is some connection with a "rarely >addressed" lack of content issue. Just as with Richard's proposal >that there is "no such thing as no-motion" -- there is no such thing >as no content. Please give me an example of where you might perceive >there to be a 'lack' of content and what are the means for >identifying this lack? what evidence do you look for? I would be >happy to read something of interest on this topic. > >Best, > >Scott > >At 16:32 13/11/01 +0000, you wrote: >>Scott has brought up an interesting point that we have been implementing for >>many years. When capturing motion for the video games industry we often >>record a performer doing absolutely nothing because there is no such thing >>as no-motion in terms of real human / animal movement...(it is impossible to >>not move at all - unless you are dead), and this nothing movement is very >>important in sustaining the visual narrative and believability of the game. >> >>Regards, >>Richard Widgery >>richardw@kinetic-impulse.com >> >> >>-----Original Message----- >>From: owner-dance-tech@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu >>[mailto:owner-dance-tech@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu]On Behalf Of Scott >>deLahunta >>Sent: 12 November 2001 06:57 >>To: dance-tech@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu >>Subject: stillness capture >> >> >>Hello, >> >>A thought: >> >>Matt Rogalsky is a UK based media artist who has recently announced his >>plans to "capture the gaps between the words" during 24 hours of monitoring >>BBC Radio 4 on 12 December 2001... and produce a 24 CD box set of silences. >>[12 December is the 100th anniversary of the first wireless transatlantic >>communication.] Matt has programmed Supercollider (a realtime audio >>synthesis programming language -- http://www.audiosynth.com/) to adjust >>itself to the loudness of the radio signal and pick up the ambient and >>other sounds that occur between the words. Each programme generates >>different silences -- "the silence of The Archers* is totally different >>from the silence of Today*" -- (*two BBC radio 4 shows for those of you >>outside the UK). The website for the project is: >>http://www.silenceisntgolden.net/ >> >>Motion Capture technologies (those systems that produce a simulation of >>movement recorded in three dimensions in the computer) places the emphasis >>on being able to reproduce this simulation of movement to appear to be as >>accurate as possible. In the animation field this accuracy is measured by >>different criteria than in the field of biomechanics. In animation, the >>accuracy aims to be universally acknowledged -- its evidence is the fiction >>that become less fictional through this integration of motion. This >>integration relies these days on a combination of sampling (capture) and >>synthesis (computation) and can apply not only to individual figures >>(animals or human) but also to larger crowds or flocks of figures moving in >>concert. The field of biomechanics is different by magnitudes -- motion >>capture in this context is designed to produce the most consistent, >>detailed and accurate traces of motion for analysis to be conducted by >>specialists in the field and in the service of developing solutions to >>motion problems encountered by people or animals. >> >>To return to the concept of silence -- why not develop a project that would >>focus on the capture of stillnesses? I am not thinking of the sort of work >>that David Rokeby has done with WATCH (1995) for example using video >>analysis of video image http://www.interlog.com/~drokeby/watch.html -- and >>other similar projects. I'm thinking of a project that would propose to >>situate itself in the center of what is essentially a commercial and >>scientific industry with 100s of researchers, programmers and developers >>contributing towards the capture of motion in service of the two >>trajectories mentioned above. A project to capture stillnesses could >>describe a set of conceptual, philosophical, technical, cultural and >>aesthetic questions as a starting point. Who knows what the outcome would >>be... probably not a 24 CD box set of stillnesses. >> >>**************************************************************************** >>******** >>Soon I will put a report on line from a motion capture project several >>artists >>participated in this last May in Athens. We didn't focus on capturing >>stillnesses >>exactly, but we did get the systems to do rather strange things... >>**************************************************************************** >>******** >> >>best >> >>Scott -- ___________ Armando
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